Book Review
The Juggling Act by Carol Maloney Scott
Book 3: Rom-Com on the Edge Series
Publisher: Independent Self Publishing
Publication Date: November 21, 2015
Format: Paperback - 266 pages
Kindle - 1431 KB
ISBN: 978-1519475107
ASIN: B018CNNEUY
Genre: Chick Lit / Romantic Comedy
Buy The Book:
Buy The Series: Rom-Com On The Edge Series
Book 1: There Are No Men
Book 2: Afraid of Her Shadow
Book 3: The Juggling Act
Disclaimer: I received a copy of the book from the author in exchange for my honest review and participation in a virtual book tour event hosted by Chick Lit Plus Blog Tours.
Book Description:
Now that her dating days are finally behind her, Claire is enjoying a blissful life with her new husband and baby boy. Gone are the drunken nights in impractical shoes, and Internet dates with men who lose their hair…and their pants.
Unfortunately, she’s discovering that life as a married, working mom isn’t turning out to be the perfect happily ever after she dreamed about. She adores her little boy, but her husband’s behavior is about to make him eligible for the Most Disappointing Spouse of the Year Award.
His unwillingness to help around the house and his slacker work ethic are frustrating enough, but the constant parade of beautiful, single women in his life has Claire in a constant state of distress. Didn’t she realize that the cute front man of a popular cover band would attract hot, young women with perfect cellulite-free legs? And whose idea was it to hire the curvy nanny with the sexy accent?
When an unexpected business trip pops up – with a super-hot, much-too-young former love interest, Claire’s own loyalty is put to the test. A publishing conference in Key West may be the ideal escape from her troubles, but will she be tempted by the forbidden in a town full of swingers and breakfast alcohol consumption? And why does everyone they meet think the business colleagues are on their honeymoon?
Scrambling to cover up innocent, but suspicious circumstances, the couple struggles with honesty, loyalty and what to share with each other. As they sink deeper into their marital gloom, will they find their way back to wedded bliss, or finally succumb to the enticement of new…and uncomplicated romance?
The Juggling Act is Book 3 in the Rom-Com on the Edge series. All books are standalone novels, however read in order for maximum fun!
Book Excerpt:
“Claire…are you drooling on the window?”
I jump. “No, of course not. I was just looking out the…holy shit, we’re in the air?” I stare into Justin’s emerald eyes, with the whites as clear as Aidan’s at this ungodly hour. “I didn’t sleep through takeoff!”
“Well, actually you did. I fastened your seatbelt and put your phone away, and stowed your tray to the upright and locked position. At one point your head smacked against the window a bit and I reached over with this pillow—”
“Would you like a beverage?” I now notice that the flight attendant has been waiting for me to give my drink order during this exchange.
“I’m sorry, yes, can I have some orange juice, please?” I hate orange juice, but I hate coffee more.
“Hmm…are you sure you don’t need a jolt?” Justin tries to pinch my arm and I flinch, almost knocking over the juice I’ve just been handed. The unamused server suppresses a sigh as she rolls her cart onto the next valued guest. I guess Justin’s hotness only goes so far with a woman who’s expected to be perky at work in the wee hours. I get it…I hide in my office until ten, if I can.
I glare at my traveling partner and he begins rifling through the magazines in front of him. “Did the baby keep you up last night? Wait, I know. You had to give your husband a proper goodbye and that took most of the night.” He smiles and chuckles to himself as he browses through overpriced gadgets that don’t look real.
“Yep, that’s it. So if you will excuse me, I am going to take a small nap. Please wake me if I sleep through landing as well.”
I recline my seat the extra centimeter and close my eyes.
I wish Brandon and I were having wild sex all night to say goodbye. Instead we have been arguing for the past two weeks about babies, adoption, birth mothers, trash cans, nannies, neighbors, music, business trips and a book designed to make me look like an uncaring shrew.
I don’t even know where to begin to solve all of these problems. He said he was sorry for not discussing the e-mail from Chastity, but she did copy both of us. I suppose technically it was my own fault for not opening it, but it was clearly his sole decision to set up a meeting with her before consulting me. He said he would cancel if I was opposed, but he knows damn well that I can’t legally oppose it.
And he’s right that I don’t want to be there, but I also don’t want my son getting to know his birth mother behind my back. Brandon knows how I fear losing Aidan to her, even though that is unrealistic, given her circumstances as a young, single woman struggling to make it. Unless she has found a man and he is encouraging her to…I cut off that train of thought before I need the vomit bag.
I do have a tendency to get worked up over nothing, but on top of Brandon hiding Chastity’s visit, he has been writing a book fictionalizing our lives for the past few months and hasn’t told me. My company is going to publish it, and I didn’t even know about the topic. I recognize that I can be difficult to approach with sensitive matters, but he can’t hide his head in the fucking sand and avoid every issue.
He is younger than me, but eight years is not such a great difference. He is thirty years old, not eighteen. He knows better.
And as if all of that wasn’t enough to fight about, we have a nanny who behaves very inappropriately around my husband when I’m there. Obviously it is worse when I’m at work, and now I will be away all week.
We also have a neighbor with a painfully apparent desire to jump his bones, and he just acts like it’s all fine and I’m overreacting.
Last night was the worst clash of wills when he started in on my trip with Justin. This is a business trip. The person who provides our health insurance and stable income was told that this is a required activity. Does he really think I like leaving Aidan for a whole work week, particularly with our marriage in shambles? I didn’t choose Justin to accompany me on the venture, either.
Sleep is alluding me, so I decide to open my eyes and see what Justin’s doing. He has headphones in and his eyes are shut. He has those impossibly long eyelashes that so many men are blessed with and don’t deserve.
I almost tap him on the shoulder, but decide to leave him alone. We have all week to talk, and I need to pace myself for a bumpy ride.
And I am not referring to airplane turbulence.
I jump. “No, of course not. I was just looking out the…holy shit, we’re in the air?” I stare into Justin’s emerald eyes, with the whites as clear as Aidan’s at this ungodly hour. “I didn’t sleep through takeoff!”
“Well, actually you did. I fastened your seatbelt and put your phone away, and stowed your tray to the upright and locked position. At one point your head smacked against the window a bit and I reached over with this pillow—”
“Would you like a beverage?” I now notice that the flight attendant has been waiting for me to give my drink order during this exchange.
“I’m sorry, yes, can I have some orange juice, please?” I hate orange juice, but I hate coffee more.
“Hmm…are you sure you don’t need a jolt?” Justin tries to pinch my arm and I flinch, almost knocking over the juice I’ve just been handed. The unamused server suppresses a sigh as she rolls her cart onto the next valued guest. I guess Justin’s hotness only goes so far with a woman who’s expected to be perky at work in the wee hours. I get it…I hide in my office until ten, if I can.
I glare at my traveling partner and he begins rifling through the magazines in front of him. “Did the baby keep you up last night? Wait, I know. You had to give your husband a proper goodbye and that took most of the night.” He smiles and chuckles to himself as he browses through overpriced gadgets that don’t look real.
“Yep, that’s it. So if you will excuse me, I am going to take a small nap. Please wake me if I sleep through landing as well.”
I recline my seat the extra centimeter and close my eyes.
I wish Brandon and I were having wild sex all night to say goodbye. Instead we have been arguing for the past two weeks about babies, adoption, birth mothers, trash cans, nannies, neighbors, music, business trips and a book designed to make me look like an uncaring shrew.
I don’t even know where to begin to solve all of these problems. He said he was sorry for not discussing the e-mail from Chastity, but she did copy both of us. I suppose technically it was my own fault for not opening it, but it was clearly his sole decision to set up a meeting with her before consulting me. He said he would cancel if I was opposed, but he knows damn well that I can’t legally oppose it.
And he’s right that I don’t want to be there, but I also don’t want my son getting to know his birth mother behind my back. Brandon knows how I fear losing Aidan to her, even though that is unrealistic, given her circumstances as a young, single woman struggling to make it. Unless she has found a man and he is encouraging her to…I cut off that train of thought before I need the vomit bag.
I do have a tendency to get worked up over nothing, but on top of Brandon hiding Chastity’s visit, he has been writing a book fictionalizing our lives for the past few months and hasn’t told me. My company is going to publish it, and I didn’t even know about the topic. I recognize that I can be difficult to approach with sensitive matters, but he can’t hide his head in the fucking sand and avoid every issue.
He is younger than me, but eight years is not such a great difference. He is thirty years old, not eighteen. He knows better.
And as if all of that wasn’t enough to fight about, we have a nanny who behaves very inappropriately around my husband when I’m there. Obviously it is worse when I’m at work, and now I will be away all week.
We also have a neighbor with a painfully apparent desire to jump his bones, and he just acts like it’s all fine and I’m overreacting.
Last night was the worst clash of wills when he started in on my trip with Justin. This is a business trip. The person who provides our health insurance and stable income was told that this is a required activity. Does he really think I like leaving Aidan for a whole work week, particularly with our marriage in shambles? I didn’t choose Justin to accompany me on the venture, either.
Sleep is alluding me, so I decide to open my eyes and see what Justin’s doing. He has headphones in and his eyes are shut. He has those impossibly long eyelashes that so many men are blessed with and don’t deserve.
I almost tap him on the shoulder, but decide to leave him alone. We have all week to talk, and I need to pace myself for a bumpy ride.
And I am not referring to airplane turbulence.
My Book Review:
If you are looking to read an entertaining Rom-Com tale that will keep you in stitches, then The Juggling Act is the book for you!
In The Juggling Act, book three of Rom-Com On The Edge Series, the reader follows thirty-eight year old Claire Harmon, an acquisitions editor for Bella Donna Publishing Company in Richmond, VA, as she struggles to juggle everything in her life, while trying to reclaim her marital bliss with her younger thirty year old author/musician husband Brandon.
Author Carol Maloney Scott weaves a fast-paced tale that follows Claire's trials and tribulations as she deals with the craziness of her everyday day: working full time, being a mommy and wife, dealing with the skanky antics of a young Russian nanny and a single mom/neighbor who both have a thing for Brandon, and a birth mama/stripper named Chastity who suddenly wants to visit with their adoptive son Aidan! But that's not all, especially when you add into the mix a business trip to Key West, Florida with Justin Scott, her sexy younger (twenty-eight years old) co-worker and former love interest, what you get is a sassy but confused lady who has one heck of a complicated life!
Written in the first person alternating narrative, the reader will find it easy to follow Claire and Brandon's he said-she said story as they try to deal with the communication issues in their marriage, along with Claire's fears and insecurities, in order to get back their marital bliss. I certainly could relate to Claire as she tries to juggle everything in her life, especially when you have a spouse who is less than helpful around the house, preach it sister! From the crazy antics of the sexy young nanny Tatiana and single mom/neighbor Diamond; to the appearance of characters from past books in the series, especially Claire's two lovable mini wiener dogs Dixie and Duncan; to Claire's dilemma when it comes to Justin, while trying to deal with her fears and insecurities, the misunderstandings, secrets, lack of communication, and the adoption issue that plagues her floundering marriage to Brandon, leaving it in shambles, The Juggling Act will definitely keep the reader entertained and laughing out loud as they turn the pages.
The Juggling Act is a lighthearted and enjoyable tale that has quirky characters, witty banter, and a crazy good storyline with enough romance, drama, and humor that is true chick lit rom-com at its finest!
RATING: 5 STARS
About The Author
Join her on "The Edge" for giveaways, cover reveals, excerpts, contest and members-only content at carolmaloneyscott.com/
Author Website
Goodreads
Virtual Book Tour
Tour Schedule:
January 19 – Around the World in Books – Excerpt
January 20 – Change the Word – Interview
January 21 – My Pretty Little Book Reviews – Review & Excerpt
January 21 – Book Lover in Florida – Review & Excerpt
January 25 – Chick Lit Plus – Review
January 26 – Living Life With Joy – Excerpt
January 28 - The East Village - Review
January 28 – Granny Loves to Read – Review
January 29 – One Book At a Time- Review & Excerpt
February 1 – Jersey Girl Book Reviews – Review & Excerpt
Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteSounds very cute! Great 5-star review. :)
ReplyDelete@dino0726 from
FictionZeal - Impartial, Straightforward Fiction Book Reviews
Hi Diane! Thank you for kind comment, I appreciate it. This is such a fun series to read, very entertaining. :)
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